


Small Mouth Sounds

by Polomonkey



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Attempted Kidnapping, Betrayal, Family Feels, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Protective Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-28 14:55:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10122035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polomonkey/pseuds/Polomonkey
Summary: Leo falls in love and finds himself betrayed.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for h/c bingo squares: hypothermia, sensory deprivation, medication and wild card of betrayal. Slightly OOC characterisation in this one, apologies! Also Leo probably doesn't have a tracker in him. Plot devices! *disappears in a puff of smoke*
> 
> This is an au of a storyline that takes place in season 2 so please don't read if you haven't watched yet! Also thanks to Chatzy for plot help and fielding my relentless questions.

Ed seemed gentle.

Leo hated the role he had to play, hated being Mia’s “owner”, hated pretending to rent her out like a worker synth. But they needed money and Mia insisted and when they found a café owner willing to take her services on… well, it was Ed, and Ed seemed gentle.

Not the kind to make jokes about dollies or abuse the synths on his staff (though Mia reassured Leo she was perfectly capable of defending herself if it came to that). Ed was softly spoken and kind and agreed to pay a fair wage for a fair day’s work.

His eyes were sad, though. Leo didn’t concern himself with emotions if he could help it but he’d noticed that. Had found himself wondering occasionally, when he dropped Mia off in the mornings and picked her up in the afternoons, whether he was imagining the way Ed’s cheeks sometimes seemed a little damp, his eyes red-rimmed.   

He always smiled at Leo though. Offered him a cup of coffee, and occasionally even a slice of cake when he stopped by. Leo always refused but Ed didn’t seem offended by his curtness. In fact, he seemed a little more lively in general when Leo was around.

“He likes you,” Mia said one evening, over a game of chess.

“Likes me?” Leo repeated, distractedly. There weren’t many games in the house but he wished Mia hadn’t chosen this one. Fred had taught Leo chess. And Leo didn’t want to think of Fred right now, or where he might be. Another sibling lost to him.

“I already explained the birds and the bees to you once,” Mia said teasingly and Leo blushed, because that had been a deeply embarrassing conversation.

Then he realised what Mia was trying to say.

“He doesn’t even know me!”

“He asks me about you, sometimes. Then remembers he’s not talking to a human when I have to give him some stiff Anita answer about your continued wellbeing.”

Mia moved her knight and gave him a half-smile.

“I almost want to tell him you’re single, sometimes.”

Leo raised his eyebrow and dispatched her knight with his queen.

“You really think now is the right time for romance?”

Mia shrugged.

“As far as I know, there is no right time for romance. And I wouldn’t have mentioned it, only…”

She deftly moved her bishop forward and he saw the trap she had laid for him.

“…I think you like him too.”

“I do not-”

“Checkmate, Leo,” Mia said softly and only laughed when he pouted.

 

***

 

Two weeks later Leo came by the café after closing to pick up Mia’s pay and Ed kissed him in the doorway, almost politely.

It was Leo’s first kiss. It was dry and strange at first and then it became warm and less strange. And Leo didn’t know what to do with his lips, or his hands, or anything, so he stood stock still until Ed pulled back.

“Sorry, I…”

“No,” Leo said, awkward and confused and cold where Ed’s body heat had been.

He couldn’t find the words so he moved back into Ed’s space and waited, hoping Ed couldn’t hear the pounding of his heart.

If Ed could, he didn’t mind. He kissed Leo again.

 

***

 

Sex was strange. Much stranger than kissing. It hurt at first, but Leo didn’t mind that, he was used to pain. It was the other bits that were difficult; Ed whispering in his ear, or stroking his hair, or petting the bandage on his side.

It was the _intimacy_. The vulnerability, the sensation of being completely seen by another person, completely exposed. Leo loved and hated it in equal measure. Loved it because a part of him wanted to be held, to be touched, to be desired in a way that life on the run with his family could never allow.

Hated it because Ed didn’t know what he was, because his body was a lie, because Ed would be disgusted if he found out the truth.

Perhaps it was for this reason that he told Ed, as though daring the man to reject him. Still he blamed the wine they’d drunk for making him so reckless, sat cross legged in the café kitchen, next to the same rug where Ed laid Leo down most nights. He’d have never taken such a stupid risk if he wasn’t drunk; would never have endangered the lives of Max and Mia if he’d been thinking straight.

He'd expected there to be anger. He'd expected Ed to leave.

Ed stayed, and asked questions, and didn’t once raise his voice. He held Leo’s hand and kissed the top of his head and petted the bandage on his side again, with purpose this time, now he knew what lay beneath.

Then Ed talked about his mother and the cost of her care and the grief he felt as she faded away. And it was Leo’s turn to hold him, to give what comfort he could.

They left the café as dawn was breaking, hand in hand. That same night, Ed brought Leo to his home for the first time, and invited him to stay over. He made pancakes in the morning and strong coffee and sang off key to the radio while Leo laughed.

He went to Ed’s the next night. And the night after that. And, for a short time, Leo was perfectly happy.

 

***

 

The floor was vibrating beneath him, shaking and rattling. Leo came to his senses groggily, trying to will himself awake. The police could be here to arrest them, or even the army, he had to warn Max and Mia, he had to get up…

Leo forced his eyes open but the world was still black. Panicked, he tried to call out but there was something in his mouth, something thick and bitter tasting.

A gag. Why was he gagged? Why was he blindfolded? He tried to reach up and pull them off but his hands wouldn’t move. They were pinned behind him, tied to the wall of… a truck? A van? Leo could recognise the vibrations now, he was in a moving vehicle.

A police van? But the police would handcuff him surely, and they wouldn’t blindfold him. This wasn’t a legal operation. Leo’s first thought was Hobb and his stomach lurched, he didn’t want to go back to that lab, to sit in that cold cell or be strapped to that metal table…

He forced himself to calm down. Hobb had gone into hiding, by all accounts, and the lab was defunct. But if it wasn’t Hobb…

The people hunting the newly conscious synths might be much worse. At least Hobb had bowed to legal pressure in the end. If Leo was being taken somewhere underground, somewhere off the books, he might never see the light of day again.

He tugged at the tape on his arms, suddenly desperate. How had this happened? He couldn’t remember anything past leaving Ed’s that morning. He’d gone out the back way, cut through the garden, just past Ed’s old van…

It was blank after that. They must have taken him then.

Leo wanted to cry but he clenched his fists instead. If they picked him up at Ed’s, there was a good chance they didn’t have Mia and Max. If it was the end for him, at least it wasn’t the end for all of them.

And if this was his end, he’d go down swinging. He’d fight the bastards tooth and nail, whatever they did to him.

He dug his fingernails into his palms until the urge to cry receded. Tears were a waste of energy. He’d need his strength soon.

 

***

 

Thirty seven minutes later, the van pulled to a halt. Leo heard footsteps and he braced himself, sitting up straight as he could against the wall.

He heard the doors click open and then the feel of someone close beside him. He tried to kick out with his legs but the position was all wrong, he couldn’t move enough. Then a hand was on his jaw and the gag was pulled free from his mouth.

“Who are you? What do you-”

The neck of a bottle was pushed into his mouth, not forcefully. Leo choked but the bottle didn’t move. Water began to pour down his throat and he spluttered, trying not to swallow. He heard the faintest of sounds, like a sigh, and there was something oddly familiar about it. The bottle was moved away and Leo breathed in, sniffing the air.

Sweat, leather, and citrus. He knew that smell.

“Ed?” Leo said and the answering intake of breath told him he was right.

It didn’t hurt. Or it did, but in a numb, expected way, like when he first heard the news of his father’s suicide. As though a part of Leo had been waiting for it all along, even if he didn’t know it.

Humans couldn’t be trusted.

This was all his own fault.

“Why?” he said, and it came out perfectly calm.

There was a hand on his face again and then the blindfold was peeled off.

Ed’s face came into view, eyes filled with tears.

“My mum’s care…” he said, his voice almost too low to hear. “I can’t afford…”

“You’re selling me,” Leo stated.

Of course. There were people who’d pay big money for someone like Leo. People on the black market, people in government, people in the military…

Leo felt the corners of his mouth turn up, unbidden.

“I hope the price is right,” he said, as flatly as if they were talking about the weather.

Ed’s face crumpled.

“She’s my mum,” he whispered, agonised. “I need to help her, I… you don’t understand…”

“Of course I don’t understand,” Leo said. “I’m just a robot. I don’t have feelings.”

“Leo, please-”

Ed’s face was blotchy with tears. Leo felt disgust curl in his stomach. Humans were weak, disgusting things.

“Mia will kill you,” he said coldly.

To his surprise, Ed nodded.

“If I can pay Mum’s home first then I don’t care.”

For a second, Leo saw a flash of himself in Ed. How far would he go to save his own family? How far had he already gone?

He felt tired, suddenly. People were all the same. Scared and fragile and incapable of not hurting each other.

“Can I have some water?” he asked quietly and Ed leaned forward.

Leo dropped backwards and wrapped his legs around Ed’s neck, just like Niska had taught him.

It didn’t take long for Ed’s eyes to roll back in his head. Leo felt no urge to keep holding, to stop Ed’s breath for good. He just wanted to leave.

It took a long time to get the tape off his arms with the keys he found in Ed’s pocket. Longer perhaps too because his hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

When Leo climbed out of the van on wobbly legs, a blast of cold air hit him. He was only in a thin shirt but when he turned back to grab Ed’s jacket, Ed was stirring, eyes blinking open.

Leo ran.

 

***

 

He was lost.

Dark had fallen hours ago and Leo had been walking for so long. He’d been sticking to fields and woods in case Ed tried to follow but now he had no sense of his bearings. It had been at least two hours since he’d last seen some sign of civilisation and he was horribly aware that his charge was decreasing by the minute.

More than that, he was freezing.

The wind was howling up a gale and it had been snowing on and off for the last hour. All of Leo’s extremities were numb and his brain was growing more sluggish by the second. His boots were taking in water and his jeans and shirt were soaked through. He hadn’t dressed for the weather last night when he’d taken the short walk to Ed’s flat. Had it only been this morning that he’d woken up in Ed’s arms?

No, he wouldn’t think about that. Shaking his head to clear some of the fog, Leo stumbled forward.

He’d stopped shivering a while ago and he knew that wasn’t a good sign. There was what looked like a light in the distance but it was so far away. Each step he took felt heavier and heavier. He kept tripping and skinning his hands on the icy ground, though even the pain wasn’t registering anymore.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this cold. Except perhaps the day his mother drove into the lake. Icy water all around him. Filling his mouth, his lungs, pulling him down…

Leo’s mouth was full of snow. He was on the ground somehow, face down. He tried to get up but his legs didn’t seem to be working anymore.

It didn’t seem as cold down there. His chest was even beginning to get a little warm. It was a nice feeling, a sleepy feeling.

There was torchlight in the distance but Leo couldn’t keep his eyes open. He thought he heard someone calling his name but then it all went dark.

 

***

 

“…don’t move him…”

“…here, just rip the fabric…”

“…not on the arms…”

“…heart rate’s up…”

“…nice and gentle…”

Leo came to slowly. He was lying on a soft mattress and there was what felt like ten duvets stacked on top of him. And someone was tucked into his right side, their nose resting on his neck.

 _Ed_ , he thought for a moment, and then he remembered.

He turned to see Max staring back at him, eyes big and green. There was movement on his left and he looked to other way to find Mia pressed up against his side, carefully holding his charger in place.

“You had the beginnings of hypothermia, Leo,” Mia said, her voice as clear as usual, though he could detect the strain behind it. “Max and I are running a heat programme to warm you up.”

That explained the unnatural warmth of their skin. His siblings were usually cooler to the touch.

“How did you find me?” he said hoarsely.

“We traced you via your tracker,” Max said.

“Because I didn’t come home?”

There was a pause.

“Ed contacted us,” Mia said softly. “He explained what happened. Said he regretted it, said he tried to look for you.”

Leo didn’t know what to say for some time.

“I don’t want to see him again,” he said at last.

“I don’t think he’s coming back here,” Mia said quietly.

Leo nodded, closing his eyes. He let the events of the day wash over him, the events of all the weeks before. The café and the kitchen rug and the nights spent curled up together.

He'd given himself to someone and they'd betrayed him. He'd trusted them and they'd used it against him. They'd taken his first kiss and his virginity and though they were only foolish human concepts, it still ached, somewhere deep inside him.  


He didn’t try to will away the pain in his heart. He knew that one day it would ease, like the feeling slowly returning to his fingers.

But for now he would just have to let it hurt.

The three of them were silent for some time. Then Leo shifted a little.  


“Er. Are we all naked under here?”

Max snorted immediately and Mia tsked.

“Yes, Leo, it’s the best way to conserve body heat.”

“Could have left my underwear on,” Leo grumbled.

“I used to give you your bath dear, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” Mia said swiftly and Max burst out laughing.

“And we did the same thing to you when you jumped in that river, Maxie,” Mia added and it was Leo’s turn to laugh.

“When you’ve both quite finished,” Mia said primly but she was grinning too.

Leo thought back to his encounters with Ed and how intimate they’d felt, how vulnerable. But there were different kinds of intimacy. He’d forgotten about the easy familiarity that came from times like this. Little quiet moments spent with the people he loved best in the world.  


“I told Ed you’d kill him, you know,” he said.

“Oh?” Mia said, lightly reproving.

“Yes. But I didn’t mean it,” he said and Mia nodded.

“Good.”

“I meant to say Niska.”

That set Max off sniggering again and even Mia could only hold her disapproving look for so long. Then Max did an impression of Niska and Mia tickled Leo and half the covers came off the bed before Mia insisted they all settle down so Leo could rest.

Leo’s eyes had slipped shut when a thought occurred to him.

“Mimi, we’ll have to move again…” he mumbled.

“I know. Don’t worry. We’re taking care of it,” Mia said.

“But what about-”

“Sleep now, Leo,” Mia said gently. “We’ll work it out. We always do.”

Then she stroked his hair until he drifted off.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
